Tuesday, May 30, 2006

five items in my fridge1/ half used jar of pasta sauce, I just had some on a baked potato for tea, the child is out and probably poisoning herself at MacDonalds or the like2/ tomatoes, shop bought but I am wishing for homegrown soon3/ strawberry youghurt, onken bio-yogurt with grains, yummy , I think it must be addictive and I intend to finish it before the child gets home4/ milk, for the endless cups of tea and coffee, if you would like one? if you would like to be asked twice?5/ cheese, also on the potato for tea. I have no culinary imagination.

five items in my closet( well my version of that would be wardrobe)1/ dolls house, awaiting restoration2/ tent, waiting for camping trip3/ shoes with heels, waiting for a job interview or a funeral, or to be given away4/ very nice black suit, slightly too tight now, also awaiting job interview or funeral, probably going to get given away fairly soon5/ no, you can never have too many fleece jumpers.

five items in my car1/ luminous pink gardening trug, what, you don't have one?2/ waterproof trousers, in case I need them3/ waterproof jacket, in case I need it4/ fleece jumper, ditto5/ emergency clean knickers and a toothbrush, ditto but they've been in the car a long time!!

five items in my 'purse', actually I have a small rucksack1/ digital camera,2/ batteries for the digital camera3/ memory for the digital camera4/ mini tripod, ditto but as yet unused5/ folded up cloth shopping bag

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Well, I think the garden looks a such a mess I can't post a photograph! I hoped the fleece would come off most of the vegetables(beans and peas, I need to get them staked!) by the end of May but is is so windy I am leaving it on. I have run out of space , mostly due to loosing the potato patch, but also from not finishing more beds. Working mostly with a 'square foot' pattern this is what is growing so far(so 6x means six 1ft squares, not 6 square feet)- 6x beetroot, 8x turnip, 2x chard, 2x dwarf french bean, 7x sugar snap peas, 9x broad bean, 4xgreen manure, 4x spinach, 8x parsnip, 2x shallots, 7x raspberries, 3x red onions, 2x broccolli, 2x cabbage, 2x cauliflower, 2x calabrese, 1x welsh onions, 1x big chives, 1x small chives, 1x white onions, 1x asparagus kale, 8x early peas, 6x carrots, 3x herbs.I have 6 squares left to plant up, succesional lettuce then winter kale for these hopefully. There are also the potatoes all over in pots and bags, a sink with potaoes, a sink with carrots, climbing beans still to plant out but these will be squeezed into the flower beds. Also courgettes, sweet corn and beans to be planted together into one bed which is half finished; lots of manure and hope for the best! with that I think! And in the green house there are six tomatoe plants and two cucumbers. Some herbs and still three pots of carrots. There is one pumpkin plant which I bought, its still to go somewhere too, at this precise moment I can only think of digging a hole in the grass, filling it with manure and allowing it to sprawl itself where it pleases?

My difficulty in finishing beds is that I want it to be totally perfect. As an indication of the ground state these are the stones that came out of one small hole today, where I planted this squashed looking rhubarb 'cut off'.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

I had a great paddle today as a guest of the Garnock KC, what a nice group of people. The weather was windy with gusts, rain and glimpses of sunshine. The wind got a bit much for me just at the end and I came of the water a ten minute walk from the launch point. We saw swallows, swifts, canada geese, swans, oyster catchers, seaguls and ducks. You could smell the bluebells from across the water, they were flowering on hillsides and islands, I saw a wild violet at the lunch stop but the rain prevented me from getting the camera out. bluebells on Inchcailloch Island, there are old oak trees and holly all round the island. view from the top of the island showing Ben Lomond hiding its head in the clouds. I think you can see the 'texture' on the water and it blew up more than this on the way back, I am a big scardy!!

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

I have done a quick update of names, will be back later to try to fill a few more in, any names you know? Ajuga reptans - bugle Eschscholzia californica, californian poppy(possibly not native!!) Tulbaghia violacea, edible wild garlic, makes great soup!! Silene dioica, red campion Geranium , crane's-bill, I am unable to identify which type from a book. wild garlic again with a red campion possibly Vicia cracca, tufted vetch (the lilac coloured middle left) possibly Geum rivale? Primula veris, cowslip. I was lucky to see this one in flower as they have mostly gone to seed now. Hyacinthoides non-scripta - bluebell Symphytum tuberosum - tuberous comfrey Cytisus scoparius - broom

Sunday, May 21, 2006

unable to resist I have cut my neighbors grass with my 'new' lawnmower, these are pictures I took this morning. geraniums unamed but very healthy. living behind the shed so it can take over there if it keeps growing proper bluebell, non scripta aquliega aquilegia a pink geranium, which was a cutting, its label blew away so no name and I thought it was geum but have re-identified it as Sigrun said not!! geranium phaeum close up of bergeniaprimula pulverulenta

Saturday, May 20, 2006

this is my new-to-me lawnmower, recieved from a very kind couple contacted through Free-cycle. (it was through Freecycle I found the people who took the extra seed potatoes I had).it was slightly damp this morning which is why all the grass has stuck to the mower, quite a lot of it obligingly landed in the little grass-box. I have to say it is much harder work than pushing the petrol one about so I'm not sure if my neighbors are going to find their free grass cutting service suspended? I just don't want to keep buying petrol to cut the grass(although if the grass has been left for a while then I will probably use the petrol one-which I don't own but have been borrowing for five years! and electric mowers scare me silly, I always imagine I am going to run over the cable.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

I have two of these green bins for compost, this is the pile after lifting it off. sometimes I just use it as is, bits and all, they decompose eventually.but today it was shoogled through this garden sieve to take out the large bits which were put back in the bin second barrow full marvellous stuff. one thing the camera hasn't caught, even in close up, is the movement of all the beasties, ants, beetles, earwigs, centipedes, millipedes, worms, unidentified 'things' and creepy crawlies. it truly was 'alive' and some of those have come back into the house with me and are now running about the bath, having failed to drown!!underneath the protective fleece, Tansy! and this is marvellous stuff to find, hedgehog poo!

About Me

Natural Horsemanship

Abbey and I have sucessfully completed Level One with Quantum Savvy, they have a great on-line site which is very accessible.
I am currently a Parelli member and hope to be able to put their vast store of available learning to good use.